Gators Beat Down Commodores in The Swamp 42-0

Vanderbilt-Florida.  A football match up that since 1992, has gone much in the Gators’ favor. On Saturday, Florida added another win, this time by a 42-0 score.

How the Vanderbilt Florida Game Went Down

First Half

The Gators started strong on both offense and defense. Florida scored two straight touchdowns and forced three straight punts from the Commodores.  Vanderbilt struggled in finishing off their drives. They missed two field goal attempts and almost scored a passing touchdown to Chris Pierce Jr. Pierce’s catch was originally ruled a touchdown, but after review, it was overturned on a close no possession call.

The Gators scored one more touchdown to go into the half up 21-0. Gator coach Dan Mullen was not happy with the defensive performance, though. In the brief halftime interview, he was asked about the defense’s performance, he said one word – “awful.”

Gators safety Rashad Torrence said Mullen told the defense that what they did, despite allowing no points, was not good enough.

Second Half

The second half started how the first half did; the Gators scored three touchdowns in three drives in less than seven minutes.  Following that, little action happened. Vanderbilt missed a third field goal attempt in the third quarter. Neither team could move the ball more that 34 yards on a drive.  In the end, the Gators won 42-0 with 479 total yards to 287 for the Commodores.

Both sides of the ball played at a high caliber for a good portion of the second half. Because of that, game plans were more easily executed.

This was expressed by Florida quarterback Emory Jones.

Rashad Torrence echoed this from the defensive point of view.

Torrence recorded 15 total tackles in the game, 1.5 being for loss.

Stats and Postgame

Emory Jones threw the ball for 273 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. He added 40 rushing yards to the mix. Four passing touchdowns is a new career high and he said he had nice help from his teammates.

Gators running back Nay’Quan Wright said he got to congratulate Jones, noting the work Jones put in over the offseason.

Despite scoring 42 points on almost 500 total yards, Wright said there is still a lot to work on.

Other notable stat sheet stuffers were Wright recording 83 yards from scrimmage and running back Dameon Pierce finding the end zone three times, twice on the ground and once on a 61-yard reception. Defensive back Trey Dean and defensive lineman Daquan Newkirk both had pass interceptions as well.

One player that cannot be forgotten is punter Jeremy Crawshaw. He performed a fake punt that resulted in a 26-yard gain on the run. That made him the third leading rusher for Florida.

The next game for the Gators is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana next Saturday when they will face the LSU Tigers.